The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
